The Red Eel Guardian God of the Ocean

There are two versions of the story about Puhi'ula, the giant red eel that swam to an area close to Kamalino, on the southwestern side of Ni'ihau. One tale comes from anold man named Nohokula; the other from Kalua Keale. This is Kalua Keale's version.

Two men from the island of Maui came to Ni'ihau to fish. They were brothers and they were called Pahau-nui and Pahau-iki. The elder brother Pahau-nui, was always hungry, and in order to satisfy that hunger he had to have an eel.

After spending the day fishing and filling up their sacks, the elder brother knew that he would have to satisfy his brother or they would not get back to Maui. Out into the ocean went the two men to obtain more fish to make hauna, or chum, which would attract any eels in the area.

For the rest of the day, they threw the hauna into the water but it seemed that none of the eels around Ni'ihau would take the bait.

Through the night they threw the hauna and as they continued, the hauna began to spread out into the waters past Kaula , then on to Motu-Papapa and to Tahiti. At this point, one eel was attracted to the smell and began to follow the scent to Ni'ihau. The eel's name was Puhi'ula,a kupua from Tahiti. As he was coming toward Ni'ihau, all the red fish in the ocean cleared his way. When Puhi'ula neared Ni'ihau, the two men spotted him and became very excited and threw out more and more hauna. Puhi'ula took the bait and was captured.

As Pahau-nui was bringing in the eel, he ordered his brother to ready the imu-so that when they landed the eel they could eat-then hurry back to help prepare this large eel. Puhi'ula was so large that the men had a hard struggle getting him out of the water. Finally, they managed to get the head and half of the body out of the water. At this point, one of the brothers got his stone adze and cut up the body. But each time they cut the body, it would rejoin. Time and time again, they tried to chop the body up but with no success.

Finally, Puhi'ula turned to the men and said, "Just cut off my head and throw it back into the water and then you will be able to eat my body." The brothers agreed to do this; they cut off the head. But they were very hungry, and rather then throwing the head into the ocean, they greedily put the head into the imu and cooked it.

While the head was cooking, they cut the body into four equal sections. Hunger finally overpowered them, so they quickly ate the head. The head was so large and they soon were full-the two had eaten all except for the snout.

Now that their opu, or stomach,were full, they lay down for a rest. As morning approached, the first rays of sunlight fell on the brothers and Puhi'ula, turning them into stone, as they remain today. There the stone body of the eel, minus the head, still lies halfway out of the water, chopped up into equal four foot sections. The imu remains still on the shore nearby. It is said that if the brothers had eaten the entire head, including the snout, they would not have been turned to stone.

Legends of Ni'ihau Tava , Keale 1989,p.75-76.

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